Story · Ajahn Brahm

Are you a real Buddhist monk?

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Zero Ego | Ajahn Brahm | 6 March 2020

1 min read

underground trains in London, on the underground trains, I was sitting, you know, calmly just minding my own business and a woman came sat right next to me and she said to me, said, "Oh, are you a Buddhist monk?" I said, "Yes." I said, "A real one?" I remember when she said, "I don't know what a fake one is." said, "Yeah, I'm a real Buddhist monk

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 8:10 (to 8:39)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

On the London Underground, a woman asked Ajahn Brahm if he was a real Buddhist monk. He wasn't sure what a fake one would be. For twenty minutes he answered her questions, while the whole carriage listened with heads down and ears open. Be available. A chance conversation can teach more than a lecture hall.

In brief (our summary)

On the London Underground a woman sits beside him: are you a Buddhist monk? A real one? He doesn't know what a fake one is — yes, real; she asks about Buddhism.

Teaching point

Availability on a train can out-teach a whole hall.

When this story may help

public transport
curiosity

Themes

London
teaching
humour
availability

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Zero Ego | Ajahn Brahm | 6 March 2020 · 2020-03-07 · ▶ watch from 8:10 to 8:39 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

The most beautiful sound in the world
In brief: A Sydney trekker lost in the Himalayas shelters at an ancient monastery and at midnight hears the most beautiful sound of his life. The…
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he got lost and getting lost in the hillary mountains or the foothills is really really dangerous so the the sun was going down really quickly but he was lucky you saw there were some lights in the distance so he made for those lights and it was a monastery an old monastery been there for centuries and so you know they allowed him to come in because apparently he wasn't the first westerner got lost in that part of the world and the the abbot really kind monk he said well look you know the place is pretty full but you can actually have my room for the night it's got like a nice mattress there sort of thing you're used to it's only for the night in the morning we know where the the group has gone to we'll take you there and you can join up with your your trick so they put him in the albert's room overnight it was very comfortable they gave him some food for the night and but about midnight he was woken up by this sound he called it a sound but it was almost like music but it's much better than music is the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard in his life it brought tears to his eyes and it was just so peaceful so melodious i didn't know what instruments it was but he used to say afterwards that it was even better than anything good to hear the sydney opera house it was really fine fine music and it put him into a very calm and deep sleep when he woke up in the morning he was so rested and they gave him some food before they were going to take him over to the the place where the rest of the trek was and he couldn't help asking said what was that music last night and the alberts just stopped and said oh you heard that last night said yeah i was just woke me up in the middle of the night what was it and the abbott said and sir i'm afraid i cannot tell you the origin of that sound the only monks are allowed to know that and for you it's forbidden and so what the australian did he got out his wallet okay how much he said no i don't you give me the whole thousands of dollars we still won't tell you the only way that you can find that sound is you have to become a monk yourself and so he's he got really fed up he said look you've got to go now otherwise you'll miss the trek again so this guy from sydney joined the trek and eventually came back to sydney and what that noise was or the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard in his life you know that just bugged him so much he went to every psychologist and therapist he could find in sydney because you know he couldn't even forget it he couldn't put it aside and after one year of suffering not knowing what it was he said well nothing more to do he just got on the plane to kathmandu went up into the himalayan mountains found that monastery knocked on the door and said to the upper who remembered him he said i was here about a year ago and i heard this amazing sound and i can't put it out of my head it's obsessing me please tell me what it is and the abbott said look i can't tell you exactly said this man so you know you say i have to be a monk to know the meaning of that sound so please ordain me as a monk and the other said it will take over a year of training before you can become a monk i don't care i'll do that training please ordain me so i can hear what that sound was so he entered the long hard training of being a monk learning all the chanting learning all the rules and 12 months later on the anniversary of his arrival they gave him the ordination and as soon as he was ordained what did he ask the abbot i'm a monk now please you must tell me what that sound was the most beautiful sound in the world he said okay look i'll do better than tell you i'll show it to you tonight come to my room at midnight and i will show you so he arrived of course about about half an hour before midnight he was so excited he given up so much of his life to become a monk and so he could find out the meaning of this sound and i was a monk yeah but could tell him you would better show him so that night about 10 minutes to midnight the abbot let him into the room and he drew a curtain aside from the room behind that curtain was this very ancient wooden door i mean like really old it must have been built there hundreds of years ago and the abbot from this desk took out these ancient keys the first one was a wooden key and he put it in the the keyhole turned the wood key and opened the door almost as soon as he opened it you could hear the noise the music it was like heavenly music not the sort of thing you'd hear at any concert hall much much better than that and he was so excited he waited such a long time to hear this and he went down the passage with the abbot and there was another door and that was an iron door solid iron must have been dug from the mountains again centuries ago and cast into this really heavy iron door you can see the rust on it had been open for years had the iron key put it in the latch turned the key and opened the door and of course the music was even more sonorous even nicer to here and it went down the the passageway a bit further and the third door was a silver door it had lots of uh jewelry in it no precious stones they're getting closer to the source of this most amazing music and by this time he was shaking with eggs not with anxiety anticipation he put the silver key in the silver door turned it and it opened and you could see the last door was a as you would expect a golden dog solid gold but embedded was precious jewellery ancient heirloom of this monastic order and you could hear the music so much clearer by now and it was just so thrilling again he was crying it was like weeping it was so beautiful and by the time they got to that last door the abba got out the gold key but then stopped and said look what's beyond this door the source of this music is almost supernatural are you okay to actually to look at this because some people look at this some monks who see it go crazy i mean it's not just ordinary stuff it's really supernatural it's powerful stuff are you ready for this and yeah but you know you got to know this abbott over the last year or two and of course you know he trusted the albert the apple wasn't playing games with him so he thought for a while he said look i've come so far if you don't show me i'll go crazy for sure so please open the door okay said the abbott he put the key in and he opened the door and what he saw inside was i'm sorry i can't tell you because you're not monks
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Halloween on the London Underground
In brief: His brother puts him on the Tube toward the London Buddhist Society. The carriage fills with vampires, witches and ghosts — it is…
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When I was visiting my brother in London and after having lunch with him, then he put me on the underground train to actually to go to my next appointment. He paid the fair, gave me the ticket cuz I don't have any money. And so I paid a ticket and they sent me to the London Buddhist Society just know next to Victoria. And when I got on that train, it was weird. I was the first one in my carriage. But then these vampires came on. [laughter] They're vampires. Really, I'm not exaggerating. about [snorts] five or six of them with long teeth and blood and just really weird clothing on. And then after they came on, then then came a few witches, [laughter] a few ghosts. What's going on? And then I remembered cuz it was it was Halloween's night. [clears throat] It was it was quite ordinary. But then I started thinking, you know, for the first time riding the underground trains dressed as a monk in a London, for the first time, I never felt odd wearing my robes. [laughter] And I think many of them thought, [laughter] now what are you dressed up as? I'm a monk. [laughter] And I really enjoyed that.
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How the ice-cream cone was invented
In brief: At the 1908 (he hedges the year) St Louis World's Fair, an ice-cream stall sat next to a waffle stall. After a couple of weeks the vendors…
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but I told them a little story which from a long time ago I in the 1908 or somewhere around then World's Fair was held in St Louis United States and like any World's Fair there were selling all types of food and it just happened by fortuitous chance that the ice cream store was situated right next door to the store selling waffles and you might think what has waffles to do with ice cream or what has ice cream to do with waffles but because they were next to each other for a couple of weeks they talked to each other they became friends and they be decided to try and combine their products and that is where we got the ice cream cone from the St Louis World's Fair the fortuitous coming together of waffles and ice cream so who knows the coming together of Buddhism and computers who knows where that might lead and that is why it is great to actually to think outside the box look outside the box
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Buddhism in a minute
In brief: A Singapore gentleman asks Ajahn Brahm to teach him what Buddhism is — he has only a minute before work. Challenged, Brahm answers:…
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when a singapore gentleman he came up to me many years ago and he said no i hear that you're a very wise monk so can you teach me what buddhism is i've only got about a minute because i've got to go to work so you know that sometimes when people just want really deep teachings and they've only got a minute instead of saying that's impossible i always like to challenging myself and just finding sort of see what you can do in such a short time and what i came up with i often repeat to people if i just stuffed it and failed and got something stupid of course i wouldn't remember it wouldn't repeat it what i said is like the suffering is asking from life what it can't give you is asking from life something which you cannot have that's called suffering so learning the limitations of life for yourself
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The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)